About

Before the Cavaliers made their big trade Feb. 17, Benjamin Cox was a busy blogger.

Cox, 27, writes about the Cavaliers on the Web site, LeBrownsTown. Cox was busy keeping up with trade rumors.

He makes no money from blogging about the Cavs and other subjects on LeBrownsTown. Rather, he earns his living working part-time as a librarian at the Brook Park branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

When former Cavaliers player Jim Chones visited the library earlier this year, the two met, and Chones promised to read Cox’s blog.

If Chones had, he would have read Cox’s analysis of games and player performances, plus some criticism.

“I try to be generally positive, but I’m not afraid to criticize the team when something messes up,” Cox said.

LeBrownsTown started about 10 months ago, created by Brian Rosen, a 2009 graduate of Ohio State University who covered the Buckeyes for college radio.

Rosen took on Cox after reading Cox’s personal blog, Random Thoughts. Rosen made Cox the go-to Cavs guy for LeBrownsTown.

“Very reliable,” is how Rosen, of Solon, described Cox.

Plus, Cox fits the motto of LeBrownsTown, which is to shirk the cynical attitude common among followers of Cleveland sports.

Cox said he tries to write short and to the point. He considers himself distinctive because “I think I’m funny and I have succinct opinions, and I express them well.

“I use sarcasm and irony quite a bit,” he said. “My humor is dry. I try not to be overly dirty or profane but I will use a curse word if a situation necessitates it.”

Cox has been “in love” with the Cavs since the late 1980s and early 1990s. Those teams had Mark Price, Brad Dougherty, Larry Nance and Steve Kerr. He can thank his father, John, for initiating him to the Cavs. John took the young Ben, living in Hudson, to as many as 70 games a year at the former Coliseum nearby.

At home, Cox had posters of Price and Dougherty, collected basketball cards and collected autographs of players.

When young, Cox never put words on paper — not until years later, while attending Ohio State. The Lantern newspaper at Ohio State advertised for a columnist when Cox was a junior there. Cox, a music major, got the job.

Until then, Cox mainly was a reader, he said.

About six months after graduating from OSU in March 2006, Cox landed a job at the Brook Park library. Since then, he earned a master’s degree in library science from Kent State University.

His interest in libraries stemmed from having worked as a page at the Hudson Library and Historical Society.

When not at the Brook Park library, Cox last month kept up with trade rumors from home in Streetsboro, often writing on his laptop computer. In the end, the Cavs traded Zydrunas Ilgauskas for Antawn Jamison of the Washington Wizards.

Cox foresees Jamison as a “really good fit” for the Cavs.

“What Jamison brings to the Cavs is ability to score from a variety of angles, whereas Z was more face-up jumpers and tip-ins,” Cox said.

He isn’t sure whether Jamison is a better defensive player than Z, but said Jamison is “a smart player.”

Cox believes Z will return to the Cavs through the buyout involving Z and the Wizards.

“This is the best team the Cavs have had it looks like ever — and for him to go to another team in midseason is unlikely,” Cox said.